2014 Higher Ed Seminar

For many college students — whether fresh out of high school or adults returning to school — their most serious obstacles to a degree won’t be homework or tests, but rather the challenges of navigating student life. Colleges are now being forced to face the longstanding problems that have often led to students’ flailing and failing on their own.

From high-profile pressure to address sexual assaults to demands to lower dropout rates, the downsides of the student experience have never seen more scrutiny. But how much can these institutions do to address issues outside the classroom? We explored these topics and more in our journalists-only Higher Education Seminar, September 5-6 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

For many college students — whether fresh out of high school or
adults returning to school — their most serious obstacles to a
degree won’t be homework or tests, but rather the challenges of
navigating student life. Colleges are now being forced to face
the longstanding problems that have often led to students’
flailing and failing on their own.

From high-profile pressure to address sexual assaults to demands
to lower dropout rates, the downsides of the student experience
have never seen more scrutiny. But how much can these
institutions do to address issues outside the classroom? We
explored these topics and more in our journalists-only
Higher Education Seminar, September 5-6 at Southern
Methodist University in Dallas.

More knowledge. More skill. More potential. No matter what reason
a student enrolls in college, the ultimate goal is usually the
same: a degree that will expand opportunities. But for many
students, earning a degree and finding work in their chosen field
may pose stark and unanticipated challenges. And for many of
their communities, turning colleges and universities into
reliable places to find qualified candidates for the jobs that
are available may prove easier said than done.

Star athletes accused of sexual assault. Student athletes forming
their own labor unions and winning judgments that say they are
eligible to profit from their popularity. Academic fraud. While
stories such as these typically have been the turf of sports
reporters, it’s becoming more important for education reporters
to stay ahead of these issues. Two experts on the interplay
between athletics and academics offer their insights.

Since 2011, when the U.S. Department of Education made clear that
schools’ failure to address incidents of sexual assault
adequately could trigger Title IX penalties, this problem—which
has long been a taboo topic in higher education—has become the
flashpoint issue on campuses across the nation. Each new incident
showcases conflicting perspectives, ranging from those of
advocates who say colleges are failing victims to men who think
the new policy guidelines are stacked against them. Some question
whether institutions should even be involved or are these matters
better left to police?

Academics are just part of the story for many students entering
college – a whole new culture of learning awaits them. But if
they are first-generation college students, those cultural
challenges can derail a promising postsecondary career. New
research is exploring the effects mentoring programs and brief
psychological interventions can have on low-income, minority and
first-generation students. What can colleges do to promote
resiliency and support student well-being for all students?
Are such efforts merely too much “coddling” of students by
campuses?

Is keeping students on track to earn a degree as simple as just
sending them text messages reminding them to register for classes
and renew financial aid? That’s one element of “predictive
analytics,” which is the use of detailed student data—from
demographic background to grades on recent homework
assignments—to guide students toward academic success. With as
many as 150 colleges and universities already using some form of
analytics, what do journalists need to know about the pros and
cons of how these systems work?

While high schools across the nation have increasingly turned
their attention toward making their graduates “college and career
ready,” many community colleges are pondering the best way to
educate those adults who enroll underprepared. One approach that
appears to be gaining momentum—in Connecticut, Florida and Texas,
for example— is to eliminate developmental or remedial education
offerings altogether, arguing that these costly courses deter
students from earning degrees.

Can the United States continue to sustain financially the notion
of residential college experience? What are parents and
students expecting when they choose a college? How has the
rise of the “value consumer” altered the landscape of the 21st
Century college campus? How will the changing demographics
(e.g., increased calls for accountability in higher education,
MOOCs, and other models for delivering education) affect the
traditional residential experience?

As the higher ed community eagerly awaits the details of
President Obama’s plan to rate colleges and universities and
perhaps tie their access to federal funding to their performance,
third-party rankings and ratings of colleges and universities
continue to proliferate. What effects do these reports have on
the priorities of these institutions and how should journalists
interpret each new list of “bests”?

Our annual Higher Education Seminar took place in Dallas earlier
this month — Southern Methodist University was our gracious host
— and there have been some first-rate stories produced by EWA
members who joined us for the event.

Stephanie Dupaul of Southern Methodist University put the theme
of EWA’s 2014 Higher Education seminar, “The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly: Covering the College Student Experience,” to effective
use during a session exploring the use of data by colleges:

A new rating system backed by
the White House aims to evaluate nearly all of the nation’s
colleges and universities. Roughly 6,000 schools that educate
around 22 million students are about to endure an unprecedented
amount of federal scrutiny.

And though a version of the Postsecondary Institution Ratings
System is scheduled to be unveiled in the fall, policy watchers
are still unsure of what’s in store.

When Mark Milliron met with an
advertising team to promote a new type of college in Texas, he
wasn’t expecting fireworks. Still, the pitch floored him.

“The Texas Two-Step: Sign Up. Succeed.”

It was the sentence that would appear on billboards and in radio
advertisements, enticing thousands of working adults to enroll in
an online college – Western Governors University Texas. And it
totally missed the point.

In Puerto Rico, the public education system is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Maria two years ago. Now, another storm has hit, but this time it’s political. Education Secretary Julia Keleher, who pledged to reinvigorate the U.S. territory’s crumbling and low-performing schools, resigned in April and has since been indicted on corruption charges. (She has pleaded not guilty.)

Where can you find reliable data on how your colleges and universities are handling sexual-assault allegations on campus? How do you develop better sources among the faculty senate leadership? And why is now the time to focus on Greek life on campus — and a growing number of students’ opposition to it?

With a new school year getting underway, how can education reporters find fresh angles on familiar ground? Kate Grossman, the education editor for WBEZ public media in Chicago, offers story ideas, big trends to watch for, and suggestions for networking with parents, teachers, and administrators.

In this replay of a recent episode of EWA Radio, Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report discuss their investigation into private cosmetology schools in Iowa that are reaping big profits at the expense of their students. Students are spending upward of $20,000 to earn a cosmetology certificate—comparable to the cost of two associates’ degrees at a community college.

From test scores to graduation rates, the education system is a
world of numbers that can show how well policies and practices
are serving students – if you know how to analyze the data.

“When there’s a data session here and you have to pick which
category you’re in, I would be in the beginner category,” said
Adam Tamburin, a higher education reporter for The Tennessean,
during a panel at the Education Writers Association’s 2019
National Seminar in Baltimore.